Nixon's idea to borrow from state universities has been dropped

A proposal has been scrapped by the Nixon administration to borrow money from Missouri’s state universities to help balance the state’s budget.

The idea was floated last month, in which $106 million in reserve funds from five of Missouri’s largest universities would be used to shore up the Department of Higher Education’s budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in July. That sparked an outcry from both university officials and lawmakers. Nixon says the proposal is now, “off the table:”

“We’ve got a gap…we have and will continue to look for methods in which we can put as many dollars as possible in the classroom, both in K-12 as well as higher education.”

Nixon also said if any cuts need to be made to the higher education budget that he’ll focus on administrative areas.